Princeton and Trenton battlefields would benefit from Holt bill

Beverly Schaefer / The TimesThe U.S. House of Representatives this week passed a bill to provide more federal funds for historic battlefields, including sites in Princeton and Trenton. In this file photo, re-enators Dianna Hnat, Dan Sivilich and Don Colombo prepare to light the cannon at the Princeton Battlefield.

A bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-Hopewell Township) and passed earlier this week in the U.S. House of Representatives could help bring more money to Trenton and Princeton to preserve land associated with the Revolutionary War.

The bill would strengthen and build upon the American Battlefield Protection Program, a government initiative that matches privately raised funds aimed at preserving land from the Civil War with an equal amount of government grants. The bill would open government funding to sites associated with the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 as well.

In Mercer County, the funds could be used for the Old Barracks in Trenton, Nassau Hall in Princeton Borough and other locations in the Princetons and Lawrence Township, according to the language in the bill.

The program has helped save more than 16,500 acres of Civil War battlefield sites in 14 states.

Still, numbers provided by the National Park Service show that 107 battlefield sites from the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 have already been lost to development.

Further, 245 sites are in poor condition and 222 are at risk of being developed within the next 10 years, the numbers showed.

Among the battlefield sites currently in jeopardy is Princeton Township’s Maxwell’s Field, a hotly disputed plot of land that was recently named one of the 11 most endangered historic sites in the country by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The Institute for Advanced Study, which owns Maxwell’s Field, recently won approval for a plan to build a neighborhood of 15 homes for its faculty members on the location. The plans are being disputed in several lawsuits filed by the Princeton Battlefield Preservation Society to stop the development.

In an effort to raise public awareness about the field, the society will sponsor a day of events at Princeton Battlefield State Park later this month.

The events, scheduled to be held Sept. 29, will include tours of the battlefield, a children’s scavenger hunt, a cooking demonstration at the historic Clarke House, a children’s horseshoe game played for prizes, and a children’s “enlistment and drilling,” according to a news release issued by the society.

There will also be live music, starting at 4 p.m. The events will be free.

The day will conclude with a performance of the play “Cato” by Joseph Addison.
Scheduled to be performed by the Princeton Shakespeare Company, the play was reportedly a favorite of Gen. George Washington, who commissioned it to be performed for him several times throughout the war, according to a release issued by the Princeton Battlefield Preservation Society.